An
explosion of cellphone videos has brought renewed attention to police
practices, provoking criticism, indictments and talk of criminal justice
overhaul. Courtroom videos of judges in action, however, are far rarer.
But
one surreptitious video in a small-town Georgia court has led to an
overhaul of court practices there. The video showed the judge
threatening to jail traffic violators who could not come up with an
immediate payment toward their fines.
“You
can pay what you have, you can call whoever you need to call, go to an
A.T.M. if you need to, do what you need to do,” Judge Richard A. Diment
of Bowdon Municipal Court said to one defendant. “Call friends, call
family, call your employer. But until you get $300 here tonight, you
won’t be able to leave.” The defendant said she had recently begun
working at a supermarket and had $150 with her.
To
another defendant, a man who said he had been unemployed for two years
and received food stamps, Judge Diment said: “You’re going to have to
figure out a way to get this paid, do you understand me? Or you’re going
to go to jail. One or the other. You understand?”
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